News & Politics

Georgetowner • July 11, 2012

Massimo Dutti will open at 1220 Wisconsin Ave., NW, a space formerly occupied by American Eagle Outfitters. Although the date is still pending, this launch is part of the international company?s expansion into the U.S. and Canada. Offering top-notch fashions made of the finest quality materials, Massimo Duti will surely be welcomed into Georgetown with open arms. Call 202-965-5472 or contact massimodutti.com

The Scotch & Soda Amsterdam Couture is taking over the location of Betsey Johnson?s store at 3029 M St., NW. With collections already featured at Saks Fifth Ave in Friendship Heights and Universal Gear in the Logan Circle Historic District, Scotch & Soda in Georgetown will showcase the signature style of the Amsterdam-based brand. Call 202-338-4090 or scotch-soda.com.

Suitsupply at the Four Seasons Hotel at 2828 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., is currently under construction. The men?s apparel store should re-open within a month. Suitsupply.com

**ALSO OPENING SOON:** As previously reported, Fluevog Shoes, from that campy, funky Canadians, is coming to 1265 Wisconsin Avenue, next to the soon-to-open See Optical. The Jonathan Adler Store, next door at the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and N Street, is still being working on.?

Georgetowner • July 9, 2012

Volta Park MPD Meet & Greet

July 7th, 2012 at 09:00- 10:00 AM | Free | Tel: (202) 282-0380 | Event Website

Come by this Saturday and meet Meet Officer Atkins and strengthen ties with the community & our local MPD representatives! Join us to share strategies to improve neighborhood safety! Sponsored by : CAG’s Public Safety Program. Meet at picnic tables on the lawn and in Case of Rain, meet at the Safeway Cafe.

Address

Volta Park Recreation Center and Pool

1555 34th St NW,

Quest: Road Signs

July 7th, 2012 at 09:30 AM | Free | information@nationaltheatre.org | Tel: (202) 783-3372 | Event Website

A talented cast of deaf, hard of hearing and hearing performers celebrates deaf culture in an entertaining performance featuring a mixture of story theatre, mime, A-B-C stories, poetry and songs- all performed in American Sign Language.

Address

The National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Ave., NW

Castleton Festival at the Hylton: Grand Opera in Concert: Puccini’s “La Bohème.”

July 7th, 2012 at 08:00 PM | $30, $45, $60 | hylton@gmu.edu | Tel: 888-945-2468 | Event Website

Unencumbered by sets and elaborate costuming, this spectacular concert version of Puccini’s “La Bohème” conducted by Maestro Lorin Maazel allows the audience to be mesmerized by the Castleton Festival Orchestra and singers performing the beloved music of this heartrending opera.
Address

Hylton Performing Arts Center, 10960 George Mason Circle, Manassas, VA 20110

CAPCS Online Summer Concert Series

July 11th, 2012 at 12:00 PM | free | Tel: (866) 339-9912 | Event Website

Online students don’t just hang out with their computers – they enjoy summer fun with their classmates, too. Students, families and staff from Community Academy Public Charter School Online (CAPCS Online) will be grooving to everything from funk rock to New Orleans jazz this summer during a series concerts throughout the summer. Interested families are also invited to see how the CAPCS Online community likes to have a good time and to get their questions answered by knowledgeable staff members.

Address

Woodrow Wilson Plaza
Washington, DC

NSLM Art Exhibit Chukkers: The Sport of Polo in Art

July 12th, 2012 at 10:00 AM | free | hreuter@nsl.org | Tel: 540-687-6542 | Event Website

Chukkers: The Sport of Polo in Art

July 12 – September 30, 2012

Museum Hours: Wednesday-Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday noon to 4 p.m.

Chukkers: the Sport of Polo in Art, curated by the NSLM and researched by H.A. Laffaye with loans from the Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame, explores the game and its history with over fifty paintings and watercolors, twenty sculptures and medals, and a selection of antique trophies.

Address

National Sporting Library and Museum

102 The Plains Road

Middleburg, Virginia 20117

Robert Devaney •

The Georgetown Business Improvement District is looking for a new executive director. Less than three weeks after its annual upbeat meeting, the Georgetown BID unexpectedly announced the resignation of James Bracco, its executive director since 2009.

“Jim Bracco, has decided to leave the BID after an exemplary three-and-a-half years of service,” reported Georgetown BID’s board president, Crystal Sullivan in a July 3 e-mail to its members. “On behalf of the BID’s board of directors, we would like to thank Jim for his great efforts on making Georgetown a clean, safe and enticing community for our businesses to thrive and visitors to enjoy. He has been a steady presence in not only the Georgetown community but in representing our neighborhood amongst city agencies and initiatives. We greatly appreciate his time and level of service to Georgetown, and he will be missed.”

At the June 13 meeting at the House of Sweden, Bracco gave an update on projects and said he was especially proud of the clean-up crews, whose work he admired each morning when driving to work. Among other projects, he also showed images of the holiday plantings to come as well as a sketch of the holiday ornament to be dramatically suspended over the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue and M Street, much like the lighted decoration that hangs each Christmastime at Fifth Avenue and 57th Street in Manhattan.

At its big meeting in 2011, the BID launched its new website and with its re-branding effort revealed the neighborhood’s latest retail motto: “Come out and play.”

No replacement for Bracco has been announced.

The next big BID event is Georgetown’s Fashion Night Out, Sept. 6. Its tagline is “Liberty and fashion for all.”

Jeff Malet • July 6, 2012

The United States Botanic Garden’s exhibit on carnivorous plants will run through October 8, 2012. Savage Gardens: The Real and Imaginary World of Carnivorous Plants “tells the story of carnivorous plants and their astounding adaptations to inhospitable habitats. Combining science, botany and hands-on activity, the exhibit demonstrates the wonders of these unique plants and the importance of preserving the delicate environments in which they live.”.

On Saturday June 16, the Botanic Garden hosted a family festival on the Conservatory Terrace featuring ativities designed to educate and investigate the amazing world of plants that need to eat bugs to survive.
The Garden is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, including all weekends and holidays. The Conservatory’s main entrance is located at 100 Maryland Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20001, on the National Mall just a block from the Capitol.

View our photos from the US Botanic Garden by clicking on the photo icons below. [gallery ids="100862,126917,126925,126936,126944,126953,126961,126971,126979,126908,126900,126889,127011,126853,127006,126861,127000,126870,126995,126880,126987" nav="thumbs"]

Georgetowner • July 2, 2012

Castleton Festival at the Hylton: Gershwin and Company: An All-American Evening

June 28th, 2012 at 08:00 PM | $30, $45, $60 | hylton@gmu.edu | Tel: 888-945-2468 | Event Website

The young artists of the Castleton Festival perform “Gershwin and Company: An All-American Evening,” a musical celebration of the American spirit, under the baton of world-renowned Maestro Lorin Maazel. Pianist Kevin Cole joins the orchestra for a riveting performance of George Gershwin’s most popular work, “Rhapsody in Blue.”

Address

Hylton Performing Arts Center, 10960 George Mason Circle, Manassas, VA 20110

Smithsonian Folklife Festival

June 28th, 2012 at 11:00 AM | Free | Tel: 202-633-1000 | Event Website

Wednesdays-Sundays, June 27-July 8

The Festival is held outdoors on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., between the Smithsonian museums. Admission is free.

This year’s theme includes:

Citified: “Arts and Creativity East of the Anacostia River,” “Campus and Community” and “Creativity and Crisis.”

Address

The National Mall (Between the U.S. Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial) Washington, DC

Community Class at Down Dog Yoga

June 29th, 2012 at 04:00 PM | 6-10$ | Event Website

Every Friday, Down Dog Yoga offers a community class at a discounted rate to encourage new yogis to sweat it out. The reduced drop in rate is $10 per class or $6 for students. Register online beforehand to secure a spot!

Address

Down Dog Yoga, 1046 Potomac St NW

Georgetown Group Runs

June 30th, 2012 at 09:00 AM

Join Georgetown Running Company with a few friends a weekly weekend run. Every week, the community is welcome to join a group that leaves from the store.

Address

Georgetown Running Co., 3401 M St NW, Washington, DC

Penguin Bob Reading and Drawing

June 30th, 2012 at 09:30 AM | Free | information@nationaltheatre.org | Tel: (202) 783-3372 | Event Website

Artist, author and illustrator Joe Jamaldinian enthralls the kids with an exciting adventure featuring his children’s book character, Penguin Bob. With some help from the audience, Joe sketches a colorful story in which Bob follows his quest to teach children to pursue their dreams in a multi-cultural world of fascinating people.

Address

The National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Ave., NW

Great American Festival

June 30th, 2012 at 03:00 PM | $39.00-69.00 | Tel: 877-628-5427

Ozomatli and Eve 6 are among the dozen bands and DJs taking over National Harbor’s piers, pavilion and beach area for a day-long pre-July 4 blowout. Local acts the Dance Party, See-I and Hot 99.5 DJ Chris Styles are also featured. Expect the usual mix of food vendors, beer tents and games, capped with fireworks over the Potomac River. Special VIP tickets include unlimited beer and access to a private area with acoustic sets by Ozomatli, the Dance Party and See-I.

Address

National Harbor, 150 National Plaza, Fort Washington, MD

GUATEfest

July 1st, 2012 at 08:00 AM | $10 pre event, $15 at the door, Kids under 12 are free | guatefest2012@gmail.com | Tel: 703-587-2720 | Event Website

GUATEfest is a Guatemalan Festival featuring cultural activities, music, food, crafts for kids and much more. Featuring bands- Radio Viejo, Giovanny Pinzon, Osman Broody, Sonora Concepcion, Invasores Musical, Banda FM zacapa, Tormenta Musical, Raibales and more. Come and join us to support the Latin Community on July 1st 2012. 8am-8pm. Please purchase tickets from Megamart, RIA/Bancomerico, Ticketlatino.com

Address

Gunston Middle School, 2700 South Lang Street, Arlington, VA 22206

Independence Day Ice Cream Social

July 3rd, 2012 at 01:00 PM | $5-10, Military Free | mkatz@tudorplace.org | Tel: (202) 965-0400 | Event Website

George Washington loved ice cream, and the founders of Tudor Place loved and revered their forebear George Washington. We’ll start with a special, family-friendly mansion tour focusing on its many George and Martha Washington connections. Then, make your own ice cream sundaes in the garden, and enjoy children’s games and crafts. All participants will receive a special copy of a rare, personal letter from Washington belonging to the Tudor Place archives.

Address

Tudor Place Historic House and Garden, 1644 31 Street NW

Gary Tischler •

In the wake of the death of Nora Ephron at the too-young age of 71 from a complication of acute myeloid leukemia June 26, they’ve been running the same clip from “When Harry Met Sally,” the great rom-com that starred Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal for which Ephron wrote the screenplay.

You know the one: Ryan explains and demonstrates to a skeptical Crystal that women do indeed fake orgasms, and here’s how we do it, to which a female diner at a nearby table says: “I’ll have what she’s having.”

It’s as if that line somehow defined Ephron’s life and career, but then, we’re in the let’s-go-to-the-video or YouTube era, so that accounts for it.

More difficult to account for and easier to admire is Ephron’s life and its attendant accomplishments. She was funny, smart, graceful, charming, loyal and always curious, with the gift of making the specifics of her life universal to ours. She had courage, sharp eyes and sometimes sharp words that hurt like pinpricks but opened our eyes. She had an eagerness to know, to share and to experience.

What I would say — and I’m a man (not that there’s anything wrong with that) — I wish I had what she had.

As it was, she left behind a lot of evidence of her qualities and her impact. She was a writer, after all, and writers never think to think they’ve written too much. Born of show business parents, she started out as a reporter, worked on now nearly extinct daily newspapers, wrote personal-styled essays for Ladies Home Journal and Esquire Magazine, a pairing you’re not likely to see in the same sentence again any time soon.

Ephron was keenly aware of who and what she was: a woman working in a man’s world, which was especially true when she turned her scribbling gifts to screenwriting, and seduced that Hollywood macho part of town into mush with her fierce friendliness, her interest in everything and everybody around her and an ability—very important in Hollywood—to turn out hits. So, there was “When Harry Met Sally,” about life-long friend who try to keep a friendship from turning into sex and love and romance; “You’ve Got Mail” and “Sleepless in Seattle,” two Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan romances that charmed the country. She wrote “Silkwood,” a gritty movie about whistle blower Karen Silkwood, directed by Mike Nichols. She wrote, most recently, “Julie and Julia,” about Julia Child, starring Meryl Streep.

And perhaps most heartfelt and anger-felt was “Heartburn,” a very thinly disguised novel about her marriage to Watergate-famous reporter and writer Carl Bernstein, who had the caddish misfortune to conduct an affair with the wife of the British Ambassador to the United States, Margaret Jay.

This would become a movie with Streep playing the herself role and Jack Nicholson as the husband. Much of it was filmed in and around Georgetown in various locations, including a hair salon which made old Georgetown giddy as all get-out.

Efron was, by and large, of the species New Yorker even if she did spend time in La La Land. It didn’t matter what it was, she would turn everything into writing gold of the most appealing kind. Her inspiration and heroine was Dorothy Parker, the acidic, sharply funny, extremely smart writer, reporter, short story and fiction writer and wit of the 1920s and 1930s who held her own among the male verbal jousters of New York’s Algonquin Club. Famously, she wrote an abbreviated and to-the-point review of Katharine Hepburn’s first stage effort thusly: “Miss Hepburn ran the emotional gamut from A to B.”

The other day, we were walking in the neighborhood and saw a woman walking a little white maltese dog. She was wagging her tail in friendly fashion. “What’s her name?” we asked. “Dottie,” the woman replied. “I named her after Dorothy Parker.” Dottie eyed me skeptically. I fully expect to see a beautiful, skeptical, smart and funny little pooch, named Nora in neighborhoods across the country very soon. Or at least a statue. Or at least a movie. Starring Meryl Streep, saying, “I’ll have what she’s having.”

Whitney Saupan • June 29, 2012

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will be showing in Georgetown June 27 for an exclusive fundraising dinner party hosted by Bob and Suzy Pence.

Unlike Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Romney does not appear to scoff at “Georgetown cocktail parties.”

The invitation-only dinner will cost $50,000 per person and will be held in the Pences’ penthouse at 3030 K St., N.W. That is the address for the condominiums of Washington Harbour, where Nancy Pelosi also lives. The dinner is one of three fundraising events for Romney taking place this month in or near D.C.

On June 25, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), both potential vice-presidental running mates with Romney, will be at a reception geared toward young professionals. The reception will be held on a rooftop in downtown Washington. Tickets begin at $100 per person.

Ann Romney will headline a dinner fundraiser being hosted by former Maryland governor Bob Ehrlich and his wife, Kendel. The fundraiser will take place near Baltimore-Washington International Airport, and tickets will begin at $1,000 with dinner costing $15,000 per person

Robert Devaney •

After months of contentious discussions along with private and public meetings and press coverage as well as D.C.’s Zoning Commission hearings on Georgetown University’s 2010-2020 campus plan and the adjacent neighborhoods’ objections, the hour of decision is at hand. And it has taken the added weight of the District government to seal the deal.

The Executive Office of the Mayor of the District of Columbia issued a media advisory Tuesday: Mayor Vincent Gray, Georgetown University President John DeGioia and Ron Lewis, chair of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E, “will make a major announcement regarding Georgetown University’s campus plan and engagement with neighborhood and city leaders” at the intersection of 36th and P Streets, N.W., just outside the university’s main campus, Wednesday, June 6, 2:30 p.m.

After a tense impasse on zoning discussions on the campus plan, Gray began to get his office more involved. The mayor had spoken at an October 2011 ANC meeting and said that he thought the issues surrounding the campus plan could be resolved. Last week, he spoke at the annual meeting of the Citizens Association of Georgetown and indicated that an agreement was 95 percent complete.

According to the mayor’s office, “District leaders have been working closely over the last several months to bring Georgetown University officials and Georgetown neighborhood leaders together regarding the school’s campus plan.”

Alison Schafer •

One quick glance as you walk by and you can see it. They are good. They are really, really good.
The regulars at the Rose Park tennis courts include lawyers, former members of Congress, diplomats, doctors, liberals and conservatives. They are young, or a little creaky, from all parts of Washington—and from all over the world. But they all bow to the altar of tennis. And many of them have been playing pick-up tennis together for decades.

“I’ve only been here three years, they barely talk to me!” says Drew Hodge, a banker and tennis player.

Hodge is sitting in the shade, on a plastic chair bought by the tennis players, watching a heated doubles match. Next to him sits Clarence Lyons, a 30-year regular here and the unofficial boss of Rose’s three courts. He tamps down disputes when they arise and helps organize volunteer maintenance squads to trim back bushes and keep the courts neat. Clarence is locally famous, greeting the mothers and their kids by name— even if they never step foot on the courts.
But it’s the tennis players, racket in hand, who ask for him all the time. “Who’s Clarence?” and “Someone told me to ask for Clarence?” are constant refrains.

After all, he’s their connection to a good game.

“People—its DC, after all—leave to go to other countries. When they come back, they come back here,” Lyons says. He says the concierges at nearby hotels often send players up to Rose. One of them told the regulars that there are only three public courts in the U.S. with a level of play this high—one in Chicago, one in San Diego and Rose Park.

David Dunning lives a block from Rose and spends most of his time there, organizing events, cleaning up, playing tennis, chatting with neighbors or just hanging out. “It’s the best pick-up court for tennis in DC, there are a lot of good players here who come from all over the city,” he says.

During prime time, weekends and week nights, the Rose Park players are clearly a literally slice above the average. People show up and get folded into games, or they sign up and a game comes to them. Usually, a wanna-be comes and hits on the backboard next to the courts for a while. That’s sort of a tryout—if you look good on the backboard, you get to move up to the regulars. Of course, anyone can bring their own game and sign up for a court; this process is only for the hard-core players.
On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, the action is intense. Two ferocious pick-up doubles games flank a gentle grudge match between neighbors. Many of the people on the court played in college, and some are tennis coaches. Only a few, though, are women. The vast majority of the regulars are men, though the few women who do play are impressive.

One of the spectators muses that the good players come to Rose because the courts are build in a slight “V” shape, so the big hitters can slam the ball and it (mostly) stays in. “Everyone looks like a super star,” suggests Hodge.

Another says that good players attract good players. Ville Waites has been a regular for some fifteen years. He identifies himself as “the king of everything around here,” and says players have got to be able to handle the pressure of constant ribbing and a little supportive trash talk.

“They come for camaraderie and they come to hang out, to shoot the breeze,” Waites says, “that’s half of what people come here for.”

Every September, the park hosts a doubles tournament, complete with a cookout and trophies.
The Rose Park courts are such a draw that the occasional celebrity sometimes stumbles upon them. Last year, the actor Owen Wilson came by a couple of days in a row. Carlos Santana, of the eponymous band hit balls there once (which is truly hard to imagine, if you remember the ‘70s). A few years ago, Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf warmed up at Rose before a Legg Mason tournament. Of course, they only raised the level of play at the courts a little bit.
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Robert Devaney •

The Georgetown Senior Center, headquartered at St. John’s Episcopal Church on O Street, held a fundraiser May 9 at the legendary F. Scott’s restaurant, part of the Clydes Restaurant Group, on 36th Street. Hosted by Sally Davidson, John and Ginger Laytham and Lila and Brendan Sullivan, the happy group celebrated the center and its founder, Virginia Luce Allen, who died in 2009 and whose birthday is May 10. The center’s fundraising campaign has reached about $15,000 for its programs and services, which includes its popular lunches and lectures at St. John’s Blake Hall on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Neighbors are invited to participate, whether as cook or guest, or to assist with the center’s day trips. To donate your time or money, visit GeorgetownSeniorCenter.org, or call 202-316-2632 [gallery ids="102451,121113,121119,121130,121124" nav="thumbs"]